Sunday, August 17, 2008

A Fountain in Reeves Park?

On the western end of the park, facing Main St., there is a circular fenced in area currently housing a time capsule, some flowers, and a large number of weeds. At one time there used to be a fountain on this very spot. Part of this blog's focus is to look into the possibility of putting a fountain back into this very spot. A few initial observations:1) Reeves Park is located away from downtown so it is not a focus of the much discussed "revitalization" at this point.2) While much focus is given to the periodic events within the park, such as the Dogwood Festival or the summer concert series, the vast majority of people using Reeves Park are everyday residents of the borough and/or people using the library (who tend to be borough residents)3) While it's theoretically possible for borough council to fund the re-installation of a fountain, it will likely be much more efficient to receive funding through the private sector, such as community foundations, individuals, corporations, and community groups such as the Jaycees or Kiwanis.

We live very close to Reeves Park and our family and our neighbors families use the park frequently. We love the diversity of events and also enjoy the choice of attending or not. We were at the concert in the park last week and on our walk back home, we noticed that the "time capsule" area in almost covered in weeds and obviously been neglected for quite sometime. We then went onto the veterans memorial and had a lovely chat with one of the people who has volunteered to maintain that area. (She is one of the veterans) We discovered that the time capsule area was a boy scout project, but due to some issues, they no longer tended to the area. We also discovered that the veterans memorial only has 6 people that actively help maintain it (weeding, etc). I suggested to my daughter, who will be entering the 6th grade and is a member of the Kiwanis Builders Club, should bring this up at the first meeting as a possible community project. The idea of a fountain is lovely, but I think that we should concentrate at the issues at hand, before we take on any further projects. I, personally, would like to see restrooms on the plans as the more events that take place, the more the need.

do you think we need bathrooms in the park? the library has bathrooms so people can always head over there when the library's open. what would the bathrooms look like? can they fit seemlessly into the park or would they stick out like a sore thumb?

I reside across from the park that my children use daily and have started a list of complaints. The ball field is in bad shape, bad infield, broken glass, busted up asphalt, broken fencing, etc. It's dangerous for my little guy to play baseball there. The sidewalks around the park are a hazard. The benches and picnic tables have issues. Some attention needs to be paid to this park, besides the borough subbing out the grass cutting.

"I reside across from the park that my children use daily and have started a list of complaints!

On the basis that "someone should do something about it" - why shouldn't that someone be you? Donate your time; go out with a plastic bag and a pair of old gloves and pick up the broken glass. Maybe you might be inspired to pick up any litter you pass on the way. When you go to the market and buy some plants, buy an extra one and put it in a neglected flower bed, pulling up some weeds at the same time. Form a "Friends of the Park" group by leafletting your neighbours and putting a notice up in the library - someone in the group may be a carpenter and could fix that fence. A group of garden-orientated parents could sort out the ball field with a sack of grass seed and a lawnmower. Hold a series of fundraising events like a bake sale or a jumble sale and raise money to install a fountain.